Oh, no, say it isn't so; Beanie Babies to retire

CHICAGO - The maker of Beanie Babies says it will "retire" all the cute, cuddly creatures by the end of the year, causing kids to sigh and collectors to buy like crazy.

Is this the end of one of the hottest toy crazes of the decade? Or just a marketing ploy to revive interest in the plush, pellet-filled animal toys, the way comic books kill off their superheroes, then bring them back?

The company, Ty Inc., didn't do much to clear the confusion.

An enigmatic posting Tuesday on the Ty Web site listed soon-to-be-released Beanie Babies, then said: "VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: On December 31, 1999-11:59 p.m. (CST) All Beanies will be retired ... including the above!"

Company spokeswoman Anne Nickels declined Wednesday to say why the company made the decision - or whether Ty would be making new Beanie Babies after the first of the year. Company founder Ty Warner was unavailable for comment, Nickels said.

Whatever the motivation behind the message, it certainly sparked interest among people.

Mike Nowak, a dealer for Great American Toy Co. at 3333 Coulter Drive, said his customers were expressing concern over the news.

Judy's Card Cottage and Party Palace, 7304 W. 34th Ave., had several calls inquiring about Beanie Babies, said Kelley Beal, a manager.

"I don't expect them to quit making Beanies," Nowak said.

Beal agreed, saying "They've put out too many of the current Beanies."

Neither heard from Ty about what the company plans to do after the first of the year.

One possibility, Nowak said, was a new line of Beanies would be introduced for the new century.

At the Beanie Baby auction site, Collectingnation.com, the number of bids shot up 75 percent Wednesday. The Beanie bear Germania was selling for $175, up from $150 a week ago.

"Ty Warner is a very smart man. He knows how to create a product. He knows how to create demand," said Leonard Tannenbaum, president of the Connecticut-based site.

Since Ty began selling the toys in 1993, the privately owned company distributed more than 100 characters, from dinosaurs and teddy bears to birds and zoo animals.

Globe-News Business Writer Greg Rohloff contributed to this report.

Discontinued - or retired - models have been the hottest sellers, leading some toy industry experts to believe that Ty Inc. is simply trying to rekindle interest in the newer - and perhaps oversupplied - toys.

"Beanie Babies right now are really being bought now by the pure collector, whereas they were the rage a year ago," said Jim Silver, publisher of The Toy Book, a New York-based trade publication. "I would find it shocking that they would retire while still making millions and millions of dollars."

Beanies initially became popular because their price of only $4 to $5 was affordable for most children. Later, they became valuable collectibles for adults who could sell a single toy for as much as $1,000.

The lengths people have gone to get Beanie Babies are legendary.

A former bank president and his wife were charged in Wisconsin this year with embezzling millions of dollars - a good chunk of it used to buy Beanie Babies. In Salinas, Calif., a woman admitted using stolen credit card numbers to feed her habit of buying Beanie Babies.

Last year, people lined up to hand over their firearms in a Guns for Beanie Babies promotion sponsored by the Kankakee, Ill., police department.

For a while, the Customs Service, acting on a request from Ty, limited travelers entering the country to one Beanie Baby per family. The limit was raised to 30.

Shirley Lin, manager of a Chicago Hallmark store that sells Beanie Babies, said she had been trying to reach her Ty sale representative for hours Wednesday.

"I want to ask if he's going to retire or have a new line," Lin said, chuckling.

Anne Friedlander, an 8-year-old from Buckley, Mich., said she hopes the company doesn't intend to stop making the toys. She has little interest in the increasing value of the 123 Beanie Babies she keeps in a doll house - many of them gifts from her grandparents.